August 13, 2008
Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance finds the awesomest billboard ever.
One of the commenters pointed out that this is probably a photoshop.
Later commenters claim that they've seen the actual sign on the road.
I see these types of Billboards in Baltimore. They creep me out.
Related to rant above?
- "There is no anecdote whose legitimacy is increased by the addition of an emphatic '...true story!'"
- and reply, "Likewise, no statement preceded or followed by the phrase 'swear to God' has ever proven to be factual."
- See also: literally, by which I mean figuratively.
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I still need a concise coinage for whatever is the opposite of a tautology: statements that by their production demonstrate their falsehood.
The canonical example is "Physics is Phun." A poster announcing this serves only to demonstrate the contrary. No one needs to advertise that Ice Cream, Sex or Bowling are fun.
It's similar to Bullshit in its strict philosophical sense but feels different. For a proposition (P) to be a lie or to be bullshit, I should believe that you could accept (P). Say I went out drinking with Sally from accounting. I only offer the lie "I came home late because I stayed at work" if I have a job, where I might sometimes work late, and myself believe that you didn't see us together at the bar.
Or take Prof Frankfurt's example of bullshit: "Serving heroically in battle makes me fit to be Commander-in-Chief". A candidate would only offer this statement if he believed you will accept it at value, that careful consideration of (courage under fire is a quality required to judiciously exercise our military powers) is unnecessary. The candidate doesn't actually know that much about being CinC, and most of his audience doesn't know that much about either the act of battle or about being CinC. It is perfectly reasonable in other contexts, though, to say "My experience in [doing X] makes me fit to [perform job Y]".
This is also true of a self-falsifying statement. It is reasonable to assert that "Sex is Fun" or that "Eating Ice Cream is Fun", in the sense that "almost everybody who does this activity finds it innately pleasurable".
However, for lies and for bullshit, an assertion of (P) could also be false. It is possible I was not at work, and it is possible I am not qualified to be CinC.
The very production of a self-falsifying statement shows it to be false. If true, it would be tautological, a fatuous statement that would never be produced. The "phun"ness of an activity is intrinsically apparent, and no earnest attempt to persuade me by wall poster can succeed. You will never hear an un-ironic statement simply asserting "Sex is Fun" without additional information explaining why this statement could be false: "Ever since the bandages came off, Sex is Fun".
If I understand the Gricean maxims correctly, both lies and bullshit violate quality 1 and 2 respectively,
while self-falsifying statements are demonstrated false because they violate Manner:
posted by mrflip at 03:24AM CST on August 13